Happy Thanksgiving

and Happy Hanukkah to all that celebrate ... this is such a wonderful time of year ... time to spend time with the ones you love and unfortunately time to miss those that are not here with us ... but it's all good *smile*

This is one of my favorite Thanksgiving decorations ... a brown paper bag turkey that Robert made many many years ago ... he's 25 now so I think this makes this turkey 20 years old ... he's getting pretty tattered but he always makes me smile when he emerges from the Thanksgiving box.

Life is good these days and I'm really looking forward to a whirl wind of Christmas activities over the next few weeks ... it will be here before we can blink our eyes.

We have a very busy weekend ahead ... love having four days to enjoy and not think about work ... Friday we are going to dinner with my FIL Al.  He's 92 and enjoys going out to dinner these days ... works for me!  lol but I do miss leftovers!  Chris and Monica are heading east of the mountains (Spokane) to spend Thanksgiving with her family so it will be a small dinner and an easy day, think we might take in a movie.  Friday is a long standing tradition with my best friend Lisa ... yes we do Black Friday ... but when we started this tradition, back when the kids were all young, it wasn't all the craziness that happens now ... but we still enjoy it.  Just the two of us, starting with breakfast at a reasonable hour and then just walking around taking in all the Christmas decorations, enjoying an eggnog latte, sharing memories and talking about what gifts we want to buy.  Of course we have to stop at Williams and Sonoma to pick up a can of hot chocolate mix, our favorite ... and we always come home with a gift or two, sometimes for ourselves and no one else ... but it's all fun!

Saturday Lisa and I are planning to do some Christmas cookie baking ... with both of us working and with weekends already booking up with Christmas activities and get togethers, well, it's Saturday or no day ... I'll probably make a batch here and there during the weeks leading up to Christmas too.

This is a picture of Chris, Monica, Terry and I from back in October when we went to a couple of pumpkin farms ... we have so much fun doing these things with the kids ... when they were little and now when they are all grown up *smile*

I've also been stitching and getting things finished!  I finished this Halloween design just before Halloween, it's from the Halloween JSC magazine .... I just love it!  It was a really fun fun stitch ...

and this sweet design is JBW's Reindeer ABC ... of course I HAD to stitch this one!  Love the fabric the design called for ... has these cute dots all over it ...

I have so much to be thankful for this year ... my health is doing really well, my kids are happy and healthy, I have a wonderful supportive loving husband and so many friends ... both online friends and in person friends ... and I'm thankful every day for all of you.

However you spend this long holiday weekend I hope you have a wonderful time ... and don't eat too much!  lol

I hope you find your Joy in your stitches ...

I'm grateful for family and friends ...